


Gloves

by aeruh



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A whole lot of angst, Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Keith and Shiro are brothers in this one, Keith is a psychic, Keith is adopted, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sorry guys, be prepared for angst, is that how it's spelled?, shiro goes by takashi, that'll probably come up at some point, their family is mentioned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 16:56:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12536632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeruh/pseuds/aeruh
Summary: Keith always wears gloves. The reason?Because when he touches someone, he can see their future--not very much of it, and it doesn't always come true, but he sees the general idea. The gloves help prevent a little.But one day he comes into contact with a boy named Lance McClain, and when he accidentally puts a hand on his shoulder, Keith sees his death.It's a shame Keith is already falling for him(EDIT: discontinued)





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Forest_of_bread](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forest_of_bread/gifts).



People who met Keith often wondered why he wore gloves every day in the middle of the desert.

There was a reason, of course. There was always a reason. Keith never did things senselessly. 

_What is wrong with this boy?_ was what the looks said. _Why is he wearing these gloves all the time?_

People, apparently, thought that you should have your hands bare all the time, unless you lived where it snowed or it was cold or you were doing things like rock climbing.

Neither of these applied to Keith, but at least his fingers were bare, so there was that. But they were only fingerless because it was hard to get anything done with full gloves. But they were better than nothing. 

For the longest time, Keith didn’t understand what was wrong with him; he saw things but he couldn't explain them. Things that felt real, seemed real, and had to be real but weren't. Considering he had lived with this all his life, he didn’t even realize there was anything unusual about it. Keith thought everyone saw these things. Flashes of scenes that hadn’t happened yet when he put his hand on another person. 

His family dismissed his stories as daydreams. 

The first person he remembered Seeing was his brother Takashi. This vision had been with him for as long as he could remember, probably because he and Takashi had been close all his life. It happened every time his brother wrapped him in a huge bear hug, or gave him a high-five after getting a full score on a spelling test.

The vision happened so often that he grew accustomed to it a long time ago, but it never made sense. It was horrible, really, and plagued his dreams with nightmares. Something a person should never have to get used to. 

It wasn’t until Takashi was leaving for the military when Keith was only eight that things seemed to click.

His older brother bent down and wrapped Keith in a hug. When he tried getting his arms Takashi’s shoulders, Keith Saw it again. Only this time it all made sense--

_Sun, heat, beating down on the Earth and dust everywhere. Yelling, screaming, and a strange popping sound Keith had never heard before in his own life but knew as gunfire._

_There was blood._

Then Keith was only Keith again. It was over as quickly as it had started, just like always.

“Don’t go, ‘Kashi!” he said suddenly, squeezing his brother as tight as he could. “Please don’t go! You won’t come back, you won’t come back, I’m never gonna see you again--”

Takashi pulled him away, looking him in the eye. “Keith, of course I’ll be back. You trust me, don't you?”

For the first time in his life, Keith didn’t. 

And also for the first time, his brother was wrong. 

Because a few months later, Takashi was reported to be presumed dead during a mission that went wrong, and Keith’s heart broke. He spent months grieving in the only angry way he knew, picking fights with the other kids at school and coming home with new bruises and cuts.

“This wasn’t what Takashi would have wanted,” his mother said when she bandaged him up. 

Keith knew it, and the thought festered because he _could be_ more, _should be_ strong, a fearless leader like the brother who fought for those who couldn't do it themselves. Not fighting with the classmates who teased him because of his hair. 

That was when he started thinking about the Sights the plagued him, the things that kept him from hugging his parents each night because he was afraid there would be more blood waiting for them, too.

But Takashi always said that “you can find a bright side to everything if you try hard enough, Keith.” 

And maybe, if Keith tried hard enough… maybe he could do just that. 

It was six months after Takashi was never seen again and four months after Keith started trying to look at his Sights with a new light. One weekend his parents dropped him off with his grandmother for the night because _nothing we tell him is getting through that thick skull of his, Mom, maybe you can speak some sense into him._

The weather was warm, like every day, and he was sitting in the garden with his grandmother while she picked tomatoes and filled a woven basket that was at least as old as she was.

“Obachan,” he asked carefully, “...if you could see the future, would you do anything to stop it?”

His grandmother looked up to glance at him. “Stop the future?” She echoed. “Where is this coming from?”

Keith shrugged. “Just… a… a thought.”

“Your thoughts are too grownup for such a little boy,” his grandmother chided, but there was no malice in her tone and Keith knew he wasn’t in trouble. 

“Just wondering.” 

His grandmother paused then, humming thoughtfully while she added a bright-red cherry tomato to the basket, eager to be tossed in a salad. 

“...Well,” she finally said. “If it was something bad, I suppose I might try to do something. If you could stop someone from being hurt.”

_Keith could have stopped Takashi from getting hurt. From going missing. From dying._

“But then again,” his grandmother went on, “you should be careful. Sometimes things happen for a reason, you know.”

_There was no reason important enough to stop Takashi from ever coming home._

Keith’s grandmother offered him a yellow tomato, and he popped it into his mouth with his mind made up.

“Could you knit me some gloves?” Keith asked. 

\----

Against all odds, Takashi was found. 

He had been held prisoner for over a year and was found during a mission. Beaten, bruised, broken, but alive.

After too many long weeks spent in a hospital and rehabilitation, Takashi was cleared to go home. Keith waited in the living room. A pair of snug, fingerless knitted red gloves covered his hands. The first pair of many. He bounced anxiously; his parents never told him exactly what happened to his brother other than that it was _very, very bad_ and that Takashi might be different than he was when he left.

It made Keith frightened; for ages he dreamed of seeing his big brother again, his hero, but now that it was actually happening he didn’t know what to expect. 

Eventually there was the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, and the engine as it shut off. There were tense, stress-filled moments as the person outside got out of the car and walked up to the door to knock.

Takashi was standing on the front porch when Keith’s father opened the door. He looked tired and stretched too thin, like he would tear if he moved too quickly. His left arm was metal instead of skin. Part of his hair was white and fell in his eyes, and scars ran across his nose, over other places on his face and his neck and there were no doubt others that his clothing hid.

Keith made eye contact with him, and then Takashi knelt down to his height just like he did over a year ago and all of Keith's fears were forgotten. He ran across the living room as fast as he could, almost tackling his brother, and they cried together in the doorway. 

There were words spoken; broken and unfinished apologizes that didn’t need to be said. Keith felt a hand run through his hair and heard Takashi’s breathing in his ear while a war of emotions threatened to break him into a thousand pieces. Sorrow for the time that was lost, for everything that his brother had lived through, for those moments where Keith knew without a doubt that he would never see him again. Joy for the impossible, relief, amazement. It was wonderful and horrible all at once. 

As Keith stood there with his arms around Takashi as far as they could go, he knew he never wanted another person to have to endure this. Keith would stop it if he was able. 

And he knew that he could.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brotherly shenanigans at Walmart and unexpected flirting can lead to very bad things.

The sound of someone tapping not-so-quietly on Keith’s door woke him up on a Saturday morning. When he glanced at the clock it read _ten-thirty_ in bright, red, unfriendly numbers.

“Keith?” That was Takashi. “You up?”

“No,” Keith answered, because technically he was still lying in bed.

“Are you dressed?”

“No.” Keith was, of course, because he hated sleeping in anything less than a tank top and shorts and Takashi knew it.

“Alright, I’m coming in.”

Takashi did. He carefully stepped inside around a crumpled black t-shirt with the words _Lion Cafe_ that told the entire world where he worked. And then he stepped around his red backpack. And his shoes. And a blanket he tossed on the ground at some point last night. 

Then he leaned down with a genuinely warm smile to ruffle Keith’s hair, making it even worse than it already was. 

“Good morning,” Takashi greeted cheerfully.

Keith threw a pillow at his stupid, happy face. His brother caught it, of course, like it was nothing and dropped it back on the bed.

“What are you doing?” the younger of the two grumbled.

“I am trying to get you out of bed, because you promised we would go shopping this morning for Dad’s birthday.”

...Did that happen? 

Oh, yeah. During a late night of attempting to binge-watch all of the _Lord of the Rings_ and _The Hobbit_ movies, at Takashi’s request. Keith had been tired enough to just say something along the lines of “Sure, I guess” to get Takashi to let him pass out on the couch faster. They hadn't even made it through the second movie. 

Keith cursed under his breath without much care and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Then he got up, put on his black fingerless gloves, and pushed Takashi out of the room.

“Does this mean you’re still going with me?”

“Yeah, fine. Whatever.” Keith tried very hard to sound annoyed, but Takashi knew him well enough to see right through it. Denying time with his older brother was like denying life itself. Sometimes Takashi used this to his advantage (correction: all the time.) 

With Takashi out of the room, he slammed the door shut and started getting changed into something only slightly more appropriate for being seen in public. Keith used his fingers as a comb to fix his hair and pulled on his shoes before stepping out into the hallway where his brother was waiting. 

“Took you long enough.”

“Not everyone wakes up before the sun rises,” Keith retorted, shrugging on his red jacket. He was going to cook in it today like he always did, but at this point that was normal. Going without the jacket would be like going without his gloves, both in practicality and out of habit. The sleeves prevented Keith from accidentally elbowing some stranger and watching how they were going to die.

It was the only reason Keith endured wearing it in the desert. That and it got cold at night, but he didn’t go out that often so that was really only a minor detail.

“Sorry,” Takashi responded. “Habit from the military.”

The words left a bad taste in Keith’s mouth, even though he wasn’t the one who said them. They brought back memories from years ago, Sights of unbearable sun and yelling and blood and a year of waiting for someone who wasn’t going to come home.

Even though it all happened when Keith was still a kid, those memories stuck to him like glue and they came back at least once a day. He would have liked to say it was all a dream, but Takashi’s scars and the white in his hair and Keith’s gloves were more than enough to prove that it wasn’t.

Keith hadn’t been without a pair of gloves since the day his grandmother presented them to him with a smile, and the last time he hugged Takashi with his bare hands was that terrible day he left. 

He was too afraid to see what else might have been waiting for him after… well. Keith didn't need to say it all again.

It really was only on rare occasions that Keith would take his gloves off to place a hand on another person--he did remove them on other occasions every once in awhile, but only when he was alone. When Takashi came home he told himself that he would find _some way_ to turn these visions around and use them to help others. But it was harder than it sounded. 

For one, he didn’t see much--only flashes, sensations. One tiny, tiny slice of time out of all the countless that were in a person’s life. Keith could only get so much information out of them, but he did what he could. Sometimes there was a single thing that stood out from what he Saw. 

“Don’t buy the car,” he would say after once he got his thoughts together again. 

Or, “Get a different flight, there’s going to be a storm.”

They never made sense to Keith when he said them, and he had no idea if they were any more understandable to the people he spoke with. But he told them anyway and he hoped that it was enough. Those that he tried to help were often customers at work that came in looking just a little more tired than someone usually should. Keith was _horrible_ with people, but he gave it his best shot, and after getting to know them a little he'd take off a single glove to put a hand on their shoulder, give his cryptic message, and flee the scene to the kitchen where he didn’t have to see their reactions.

It hadn’t gotten him fired yet. Keith was pretty sure that was just because Allura was a family friend.

“You still with us, Keith?”

Takashi’s words brought him back to the present. He looked up at him, blinking stupidly. 

“...Yeah. Sorry. Still tired.”

Takashi gave him a look and didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Something about his expression told Keith that he was doing more than just looking at him; he was trying to evaluate him, to figure him out like a puzzle. 

It was a look Takashi gave him often, usually if he caught him in the middle of thinking about… these sort of things. It was happening more often lately than Keith really wanted to admit. 

“I bet coffee would help with that,” Takashi said finally. 

Keith replied with a, “Sure, as long as you’re buying” and tried to sound as nonchalant as he could. 

He hoped it was convincing enough. But Keith wasn’t sure.

\----

Forty minutes and half a cup of some blended coffee that only Takashi knew he liked later, Keith was roaming the aisles of the Walmart in town looking for something dadly enough to give as a birthday present. 

They split up at some point, agreeing to rendezvous at the gross deli for lunch (for Takashi) and breakfast (for Keith) that would come in the shape of those paper cups filled with subpar popcorn chicken. Each brother would present their findings. After that they would decide on which one was the best, sometimes with arm-wrestling while other customers gave them dirty looks, and they would pick out the best (see: worst) card and a bag to put it all in. McDonald’s ice cream topped it all off to celebrate.

It was a tradition they’d had for years for both of their parents, done with the utmost seriousness. 

Keith’s phone buzzed to indicate a text message. 

_Takashi: If you suggest a gift card again, I’m going to break one of the glasses on the shelves and make you pay for it._

Yeah. Serious.

Keith was just about to respond with something along the lines of, “If you find another Star Wars tie I’ll throw a fit like a child until they kick us out again” when he heard voices coming from the aisle next to him.

“Pidge, no, put that back.”

“Why not? You're not my dad.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m any less wrong! Besides, you’re practically a child! And you’re tiny, so you’re, like, even more of a kid.”

“I never want to hear you say ‘you’re’ that many times in one breath again.”

“Guys, come on,” another voice spoke up as they came around the corner. “Pidge isn’t _that_ much younger--”

That was when Keith stopped listening, because he was too busy staring at the taller of the three strangers that came into view. 

He was absolutely _gorgeous._ Pretty blue eyes, dark brown hair, tan skin, and a smile that lit up even the worst aisle of a Walmart supermarket (the houseware one--how did Keith even end up here?)

Now, to be honest, Keith wasn't necessarily the most romantic person in the world. He had never been in a relationship before in his life. But that didn't stop him from noticing an attractive person when he saw one, and Keith wasn’t blind. 

This stranger was _very_ attractive.

And he was staring back at Keith, too. 

Oh, fuck. That was not good. Not good at all.

Then the beautiful stranger was suddenly a whole lot closer. Like, maybe a foot away from his face. Keith still had one hand stretched out to inspect a huge ceramic mug, one glove off so he could hold it without it slipping and falling to the ground. 

“Hey baby, are you made of dark matter? Because you’re indescribable.” 

Keith’s mind broke, but apparently his circulatory system wasn’t, because suddenly he felt every drop of blood in his body rush to his face.

“Oh, god,” said one of the other strangers--the smaller one with glasses. “Lance, I think you broke him. Way to go.”

The attractive stranger, apparently named Lance, frowned and glanced back at his friends before looking at Keith again.

“What? No way.”

“Look at him,” the smaller one went on. “He’s frozen.”

“See? This is why I said you can't just go around hitting on every attractive person you see…” This time it was the other stranger talking, the one in yellow. 

That was when things went from _really awkward_ to _fucking awful._

Because Lance, looking concerned and a bit apologetic, reached out and put a hand on Keith’s shoulder. 

It wasn't a malicious gesture in any way; probably done out of worry, as this Lance guy most likely thought he’d just killed him. But Keith was never one for physical contact, much less from strangers, and he reacted instinctively.

Retracting his hand from the shelf in record time, Keith snatched Lance’s own hand to push it away. 

He still wasn’t wearing his glove.

The bright fluorescent bulbs overhead and the supermarket Keith stood in were replaced by

_flashes of light, the sensation of rolling, crunching metal and glass shattering. Screaming but it was incoherent and senseless, blood filling his mouth when he bit down on his tongue on accident, his neck snapping--_

Keith returned to the present time panting for breath and covered in sweat even though he hadn’t physically gone anywhere.

“Whoa,” Lance said. “Are you oka--”

But Keith didn’t give him a chance to finish his sentence. He was already running for the doors as if he could outrun the taste of blood that wasn’t his own that seemed to linger on his tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to google "bad astronomy pickup lines" at three in the morning for this.


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I heard somewhere that Keith likes fast food and I'm just running with it

Keith was leaning against the side of Takashi’s truck when his phone buzzed, startling him and nearly giving him a heart attack. His breathing was still erratic and he struggled to get it under control. 

Slipping on his glove, Keith dug it out of his pocket. 

Another text from Takashi; another of many, to be exact. There were five in total, and as Keith unlocked his phone it buzzed with a sixth.

_Takashi: Meet at the deli? Found something good._

_Takashi: Keith?_

_Takashi: Where are you?_

_Takashi: Keith??_

_Takashi: Keith what’s wrong?_

And then the latest: _I’m coming to find you._

All Keith was able to text back was, _Outside. Truck._

A few minutes later, a tuft of white hair came into view as Takashi found him outside, hands on his shoulder as he tried to get Keith to look him in the eye.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” Keith managed. It was a poor lie and he knew Takashi was able to see right through it.

But Keith couldn’t tell him what happened or what he Saw; he couldn't tell _anyone,_ and he never had before. He wasn’t about to now. And besides, what would Keith even tell him? 

_Hey, Takashi, I can see people’s futures when I touch them. I saw you going missing before you left and I just had a vision of this really cute guy dying, which really, really sucked because he was flirting with me._

Yeah. That wasn't about to happen.

Takashi was giving him that look again, and it seemed like he was going to say something. But finally he sighed, stood a little straighter, and squeezed Keith’s shoulder before letting him go.

“You know you can talk to me about anything,” Takashi said. 

Keith smiled a little. “I know. It’s fine, I swear. I just… got a little overwhelmed. Lots of people.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Takashi dug his keys out of his pocket. “We can go somewhere else for lunch,” he said. “Maybe someplace a little quiet? We’ll come up with some new plans then.”

At the moment food was the absolute last thing Keith wanted; though the taste of blood had faded, he remembered it perfectly. Sharp, like copper pennies. It made him feel a little queasy. 

But Takashi knew something was wrong, even though he had no idea what it was, and was trying his best to help. 

So Keith said, “Yeah, sure. You can chose the place.” And when Takashi unlocked the truck he climbed in, wrapping his arms around himself as tightly as he could even though it was already hot outside. The vision of Lance dying played in his mind again it made him shiver. 

Keith never did get used to stuff like that. He probably never would. 

In the end, Takashi settled for one of those only semi-suspicious burger places that seemed to be more a part of the background than anything else. They were the only ones there, other than the staff, and Takashi led him over to the corner table. 

Takashi ordered a burger with a side of mixed fruit (like a child) and Keith went with “just two baskets of fries with lots of salt, please” and ignored the look of disapproval Takashi shot him.

When they were left alone again, Takashi leaned forward to play with one of the bright pink packets of sweetener sitting off to the side. 

“You know,” he said, being very careful to keep his tone might, “you can still talk to me whenever you need to. Or want to.”

Keith sighed and folded one of the cheap paper napkins into a square. 

“I saw a cute boy,” he said eventually. That was close enough to the truth without actually telling him everything, right? 

His brother perked up instantly. “Oh, really? Anything else?”

_I Saw him dying._

He cleared his throat. “Um. He flirted with me. And I ran.”

It wasn’t necessarily a lie.

Takashi laughed. “I can’t say I’m surprised,” he said finally. 

Keith scowled and mixed the ice in his soda around with the straw, making it clink quietly against the glass. From behind the counter a woman gave him a dirty look when she thought Keith couldn’t see. 

“It surprised me,” Keith confessed. “I just wasn't expecting it. Sorry if I scared you.”

“Maybe I should get Matt to give you some tips. Then you won’t be so awkward next time,” Takashi mused. 

“Matt?”

“Military friend,” Takashi explained. “And really good at flirting. I bet he could help.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I seriously doubt _anyone_ else would want to flirt with me, or that I’ll ever see him again. So you don’t really need to worry about that.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure. Lots of people probably find you attractive…”

Their conversation went on like that, bouncing back and forth and touching on only light-hearted, easy topics until their food arrived. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better. Keith improved his fries greatly by adding more salt and staking claim over the bottle of warm ketchup, even though Takashi tried to lecture on “eating actual food." But Keith ignored him, like he did often.

As the meal went on, Keith was finding it easier to forget what he Saw when he put his hand over Lance’s. Well. Not quite _forget,_ but shove it to the back of his mind to think about later. He and Takashi made plans to go to the mall next week and try the whole gift-finding thing again, even if it was breaking tradition. 

They spent the rest of their Saturday together, going to see a new horror movie that was really badly done but with an excellent score, and refilled the popcorn tub before leaving only to throw most of at it at each other when they got stuck in traffic on the highway. 

At the end of the night, Keith gave his brother a one-armed hug and said, “Thanks for today.”

Takashi returned it and ruffled his hair, as it was included his title of _the Older Brother._

“Of course. Anytime. Tell Allura I said hi tomorrow, yeah?”

“Or you could tell her, because you guys text each other every night,” Keith said, but then he added, “I will.” 

That night after Takashi left to return to his apartment, Keith lay under his blanket with the fan on its highest setting. The weather was still warm and suffocating and had yet to cool off, and it made it hard for Keith to sleep. 

But that was fine; he didn’t really want to, anyway. Nightmares came every night he had a vision, and this time was probably going to be no different.

Eventually sometime between midnight and one in the morning Keith dozed off, and he was right. 

\----

A week later Keith was wearing that black _Lion Cafe_ uniform as he jotted down a customer’s orders. They wanted a coffee with an amount of sugar that should have been physically impossible and a chocolate chip muffin.

On his way back to fill the order, he passed by Allura. She was sitting at one of the tables, the surface covered in pages of handwritten and highlighted notes as she tried to study for a test.

“Want another coffee?” Keith asked, and the cafe owner’s daughter looked up with a smile.

“That would be wonderful,” Allura said. “Has it been too busy?”

Keith shook his head. “Not any worse than right now. I’m off in an hour.”

The bell over the door jingled as it was opened, and Keith turned around to greet the new customers with his best, “How are you today?” that he could manage when his words died in his throat.

Lance from Walmart was standing in the middle of the cafe, in a green jacket and a gray and blue shirt. 

_screaming, blood, broken glass_

Keith shook his head to get rid of the memories and looked around to see if anyone else was around to help…

But no. It was only Keith until the next person clocked in. 

Taking a deep breath and second-checking to make sure he still had his gloves on, Keith passed on the last customer’s order and went to go seat Lance from Walmart.

“Hello,” Keith said, trying to sound as calm as he wished he was. “How are you today?”

Lance looked at him, and then his eyes widened with recognition that Keith wished wasn’t there.

“Hey, I remember you!” Lance greeted. 

“Y-you do?”

“Of course,” he said. “I couldn’t forget a mullet like yours. It looks nice tied back like that.”

Keith felt his face heat up against his will. “Um…”

“Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened last week,” Lance went on. “I didn’t mean to upset you like that. Hunk keeps saying--”

“No, it’s fine,” Keith cut him off before the conversation could spiral into dangerous territory any more. “Party of one?”

Lance seemed thrown off. “H-huh? Oh. Yeah. Just me.”

Keith lead him over to an empty table and set a menu down in front of him. “I’ll let you make up your mind and be back in just a few minutes, unless…”

“What’s your name?” Now Lance was the one doing the interrupting. 

“Sorry?” Keith asked stupidly.

With a smile, Lance leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. “Your name. You have one, right? That way I don’t have to keep calling you That Walmart Guy that Ran Away when I talk to my friends.”

“You’ve been talking about me?” Keith felt like all this was veering in the opposite of the direction he wanted it to go. 

“Not in a bad way!” Lance’s face darkened a little and Keith noted that he had freckles. “I just… would like your name.”

Pointing with his index finger, Keith showed him the name tag pinned to his apron. 

“Keith,” Lance said, like he was trying to test the way it sounded. “What time are you off?”

“W-what? I don’t think--”

“In an hour!” that was Allura. “He just told me so!”

Jesus. Keith pinched the bridge of his nose and forced himself to calm down, purposefully ignoring the overly cheerful tone of Allura’s voice. 

“And he’s free for the rest of the day. He always is.”

Lance thanked Allura with a sunny smile and turned to Keith again. “I’d like to see you after, if you don’t mind. And apologize for what happened last weekend.”

Keith knew that he should say no. He really did. Flashes of bright lights, rolling, glass digging into his skin and cries filled his thoughts. 

This boy, Lance, was going to die. Keith shouldn't agree to go on a date with him; he shouldn’t form any attachments to him. 

It would be a bad idea. It would hurt. A lot. 

So why was he hesitating to say no? 

Maybe... it was because Keith could try to warn him like he did with the handful of others before. This wouldn't be a date. He would tell Lance all that he could and then leave, like he always did. 

So Keith said yes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys had an awesome Halloween. I worked but ran around the apparel department really bored in a green AoT cloak so that was pretty cool


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith goes on a date. Only he doesn't realize it is. Naturally.

When Keith clocked out, Lance was still there, waiting for him at the table. He stood up when Keith walked over.

“There you are,” he said with a smile, and Keith forced himself to return it.

“Um… yeah.”

He would have scolded himself for sounding so… well, awkward and in pain. But then he remembered that his goal with this was to tell Lance not to get into a car crash, not to get himself a boyfriend. So it didn’t really matter then in the end, right?

Keith folded his dumb apron over his arm. Somewhere behind him he heard Allura’s voice saying, “Have fun! You’ll tell me all about it tomorrow!”

The “If you don’t I’ll get Takashi to bother you until you do” didn't have to be spoken. He knew Allura well enough at this point.

“Sure,” Keith tossed over his shoulder. Lance walked to the door and even _held it open for him,_ like some sort of cheesy teenage romance movie. 

Keith muttered a “thanks” and walked out of the cafe.

“You hungry?” Lance asked once they were outside. “Because I know this really good pizza place not too far from here. It’s _amazing_ and it’s also really cheap, which is awesome. I think…”

The ramble continued as Keith followed him to the tiny parking lot, only half-listening. He pulled out his phone to send his brother a quick message so that Takashi would know where he was, and looked up when Lance stopped walking.

“Is this your car?” Keith asked.

Takashi knew more about cars than he did, but Keith could see that this one was small-ish. (About as small as a normal small car? Maybe?) And kinda old. Also, it was blue, or at least it used to be. Most of the paint was faded.

“Yup,” Lance answered proudly, working to dig the keys out of his pocket. He unlocked the passenger door for Keith, who hesitated only a little before sliding into the seat.

Opening up the driver’s side, Lance got in next to him and slammed the door. He’d left the windows up, for whatever reason, and Keith thought he was going to suffocate to death. 

“It’s…”

“Nothing fancy, I know.” Lance started up the engine, and then the AC, which blasted warm air in Keith’s face and did nothing to help the suffocating issue. “But it’s mine and I love it. Kinda like when parents have an ugly kid.”

He didn’t mean to laugh. Keith really didn’t. But the sound bubbled up him his throat anyway and the next thing he knew he had one hand pressed against his mouth as he tried to stifle the noise. 

“Sorry,” Keith said eventually when he could get enough air into his lungs. “Sorry, I didn’t--”

But Lance cut him off with a wave of his hand and a smug smile. 

“I knew I could get you to laugh, and not just run away terrified,” he said with satisfaction. “Which I’m still sorry about, by the way.”

A little of the tension Keith felt before was gone; how Lance was able to do that, and without even trying, Keith would never know. He let himself sit a little more easily in the seat, even despite the warm air, and rested his elbow on the handle of the door. 

“It’s okay. Really,” Keith answered. “It wasn’t your fault.”

And it wasn’t--well, not really. Lance touched him, but it wasn’t like a total stranger was supposed to know about Keith’s… issue. After all, Keith couldn't just prance around wearing a shirt that said, “I Can See How You’re Going To Die If I Touch You, So Please Respect My Personal Space.”

As Lance started to pull out of the parking lot, Keith took the opportunity to just keep talking. “I-I’m just not very good at… you know.” 

Keith waved his hand around vaguely, hoping that his poor explanation would be good enough. Even he wasn’t sure what he was trying to say; bad at being around other people? Bad at talking, like they were doing now? Lance would probably come to his own conclusion on whatever he thought Keith meant, and that would be fine, because it wouldn't be the truth of all this mess.

“Oh yeah, no problem. Pidge--one of the people who were with me that day? I don’t know if you remember. She was the small one--well. She’s kinda awkward too.”

Keith did remember; the green one, with glasses. He was about to say so before Lance turned into the street once it was clear, and Keith gripped the handle because for just that second he remembered metal crunching and lights and _car wreck._

Logically, Keith knew that what he saw the other day at Walmart wasn’t the situation he was in now. The light was all wrong; the flashes in his vision were different, like streetlights, and the streetlights didn’t turn on until the sun went down at the end of the day. 

It didn’t make Keith any less anxious. And it probably wasn’t going to do anything to help, either, when they got in the car again later. Or when he would have to watch Lance drive off on his own.

This was why Keith wore his gloves. Why he never formed attachments to anyone who’s future he saw, because getting close to them was only going to hurt. How could you, when you knew they were going to die?

Takashi had been the only one that was different. But the military had also declared him dead before, miraculously, he turned up alive, and Keith had seen only his death all those years ago. Keith just liked to think that Takashi was a special case. Something that even death couldn’t touch, no matter how hard it tried.

Keith forced himself to let go of the handle on the door. This was why he had to focus so much on telling Lance what he needed to know, and then to leave as soon as he could. 

And then hopefully never run across him again.

“Are you okay?” Lance asked, taking his eyes off the road for just a moment to glance at him. “You seem nervous.”

Shit. Keith never really was any good at acting, or hiding his emotions, and Lance was picking up on them clear as day. 

“Sorry,” Keith said. He took careful attention to keep his voice as casual as he could. “Don’t like cars much.”

Which was true, so he didn’t feel too guilty about saying it, because it wasn’t technically a lie.

To his credit, Lance drove carefully, even if he cursed under his breath a couple of times when someone else on the road did something stupid. They made it to the pizza place Lance talked about in one piece, thankfully, and wreck-free. Keith followed him inside, and the smell of fresh-baked dough and spices was a welcome change from the cafe. 

Lance lead him to a far corner of the restaurant where there was an empty table. It was busy, and Keith double-checked out of habit to make sure he had his gloves on, just in case. 

It wasn’t until after they were settled and drinks were chosen (water for Keith, and coke for Lance, even though it was disgusting) that Keith decided he should finally start to get this whole thing over with.

“Listen, Lance,” he said. “When you stopped by earlier, I--”

“I know, I know. It was kinda rude. I’m sorry for just asking you out like that when you were working.”

Keith choked on the glass of water he was trying to take a drink from. 

Startled by his reaction, Lance reached out like he wanted to help, but didn’t know how. Instead he pulled a couple paper napkins out of the dispenser and tried to offer them to him. 

“Sorry!” Lance apologized, for what must have been the millionth time. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

When Keith was able to breathe again and most of the water he spilled was dried, he was finally able to answer.

“I didn’t realize,” was all he managed to say. Which still wasn’t even anywhere close to the topic he needed to bring up. 

Lance stared at him in confusion. And then, like a light being turned on, his eyes widened in recognition.

“Oh! Oh, I didn't--I didn’t realize that--that you... didn't… realize…?” Lance ran a hand through his hair in frustration, like he couldn't find the right thing to say. “I should have been… more clear. I guess?”

What Keith _wasn’t_ supposed to do was find himself smitten with the boy across the table. What he did instead anyway was blush, because Lance was… undeniably cute when he was frustrated like that. 

“N-no! It’s fine. I’m bad at picking up on social cues. And stuff like that. I’m bad at a lot of things.”

_Like warning you that you’re going to die._

And it was only getting harder and harder to sit with that on his… conscience? No. That word didn't sound right. 

Anyway. It was getting downright unbearable. Being on a _date_ with him wasn’t helping anything. At all. Although how Keith didn’t catch on to what was going on sooner, he would never know. 

“A-actually, I, uh… should probably go,” Keith said, stumbling over his words. “I… I promised my brother…”

Keith wasn’t good at reading other people, but even he could see the hurt that crossed Lance’s face. It made him feel awful. 

“I’m sorry, really, I just--” Keith didn’t even bother to finish his sentence before he was darting out the door. He would have liked to say he didn’t look back, but there was a pause for a second at the entrance. 

Keith didn't know why. It only made him feel worse. 

It wasn’t until he was headed for the bus stop that Keith remembered: after that stupid, dramatic exit, he still didn’t tell Lance about what he saw. 

_Damn it._

\----

When Takashi came home for dinner, he found Keith lying face-first on the backyard porch swing.

“Uh-oh,” Takashi said, sitting down next to him. “You only brood here when you really mess up. What happened?”

Keith only groaned. He rubbed his finger along the old, white paint on the swing and didn’t say anything.

There were a moment where Takashi just looked at him; Keith knew because he could feel him staring at him. And then Keith could hear the sound of shuffling as his brother leaned closer, and suddenly there was the sensation of a hand being carded through his hair. He relaxed without meaning to. 

Takashi didn't push him to explain anything. He never did. Out of everyone in the entire world, even their own parents, he understood Keith the best.

Keith didn't know how he got so lucky. He never had to explain anything to him. Takashi just always _knew._

And so Takashi knew not to say anything now. Because he also was aware that Keith would tell him, eventually. But right now he simply couldn't. It was like there was some sort of barrier between his voice and his thoughts; it was just impossible for him to say them. And Takashi would be sitting there, waiting for when Keith felt like it wasn't so impossible anymore.

He must have done something right in a past life. If those even existed. 

Eventually, with the hair-brushing and the gentle, even creak of the porch swing, Keith felt like he could roll over onto his side. He couldn't look at Takashi. Instead he was able to fix his gaze on the trees along the fence. The sun was setting behind everything, and it turned them into a silhouette. 

“A guy asked me out on a date,” was all he said.

In the corner of his vision, Keith saw Takashi smile a little. 

“That’s great,” he said. “But… I’m guessing… it didn’t go well?”

No. It didn’t go well at all. But, once again, there was the little issue of _not being able to tell anyone._ So Keith was going to have to go with the “What Keith’s Life Would Probably Be Like if He Couldn't See How People Were Going to Die” version.

“It didn't,” Keith admitted. “For… a while. But I didn’t realize it was a date. And then when I did, I just--I panicked and… I ran out.”

“Oh.” That was all Takashi could apparently think of responding with.

“Yeah.”

Takashi paused to think. “Well… did you like him, at least?”

The first thing Keith wanted to do was deny it, because that was what he always did when it came to talking about his emotions. But when he went through the events in the car and at the pizza place, he realized with a sinking realization that yes, he did like Lance. After all, wasn’t that the whole reason Keith ran off? He couldn’t just go out with a boy who was going to die. Especially when Keith only went with him to tell him he was gonna die. Or something like that, at least.

But yes, if you really wanted to get down to it, Keith did like him. He liked him a lot.

So all he did was mumble “I guess,” so quietly that he wasn’t sure Takashi even heard him. 

The older of the two laughed, and then ruffled Keith’s hair. “Allura told me you left with someone. I assume that’s the boy you’re talking about?”

“...Yeah.”

“Well, good!” His brother sounded much too optimistic. “That means he knows where he can find you. Maybe you'll get a second chance!”

Keith groaned. 

“‘Kashi, no! What would I even do if I had to face him again? That would be even _worse_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyyy guess who's still alive? 
> 
> Thanks for sticking around, guys. I'm sorry it took so long for me to post something! I'll be updating my other two AUs eventually too, I promise

**Author's Note:**

> So sorry guys for all the angst already guys. 
> 
> I got the idea for this at like 2:30 in the morning a couple days ago and just ran with it. I'm not quite sure how it's gonna go, but we'll see.


End file.
